The Transatlantic Divide on Marriage:&nbsp; Dutch Data and the U.S.Debate on Same-Sex Unions

About the Authors

In the debate over
the redefinition of marriage, advocates of same-sex marriage have
made a variety of arguments. Many have argued that same-sex
marriage would be good for homosexuals. Some have gone so far as to
propose that the change would strengthen the institutions of
marriage and family by reaffirming commitment and fidelity.[1] Early data from abroad,
however, do not support the claim that same-sex marriage would
benefit marriage in general. In the Netherlands, where homosexual
relationships gained legal recognition in 1998, same-sex marriage
has not strengthened the family but may have accelerated its
decline.

As the
Netherlands' experiment in legalizing same-sex unions has
illustrated, same-sex marriage in that country constituted one more
step in a steady legal and social breakdown of the family. This is
not to say that the data imply a causal relationship between the
initiation of same-sex marriage and the breakdown of the family in
the Netherlands. Rather, the redefinition of marriage furthered a
general pattern of cultural and legal erosion of the institution.
According to several Dutch social scientists, their fellow citizens
"increasingly regard marriage as no longer relevant" because they
have been persuaded that "marriage is not connected to parenthood
and that marriage and cohabitation are equally valid 'lifestyle
choices…'"[2]
Marriage may be losing its place as the fundamental building block
of social infrastructure in the Netherlands. As the United States
considers how to respond to the judicial dictates redefining
marriage,[3]
policymakers should be aware of data emerging from the European
precedent, and they should choose the most beneficial course for
the family in America by preserving the institution of
marriage.

The legislative
consideration of a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution
takes place within a much larger debate on the American family and
the policies that strengthen or weaken it. In this debate, the
United States has been gradually turning in a very different
direction from Europe, where recent public policy has facilitated
the erosion of the family. Under both the Clinton and Bush
administrations the federal policy approach has generally been one
of strengthening marriage for the benefit of children. The European
strategy presents a stark contrast of granting increased political
license to reduce traditional family ties, facilitating greater
individualism among adults. The sociological data indicate that the
American approach is better for children and for the future
strength of nations.

One troubling
consequence of these changes in the Netherlands is the growing
disconnect between marriage and parenting in the mainstream Dutch
consciousness, according to some observers. In the decade leading
up to the legalization of same-sex marriage in the Netherlands its
proponents made arguments that separated the institution of
marriage from parenting.[4]
Now, alternative forms of cohabitation and childrearing are
increasingly accepted in the reputedly tolerant Netherlands, and
marriage has been devalued such that it has become an "endangered
institution."[5]
All of these developments have done nothing to improve the state of
family life in the Netherlands.

A key barometer of
the health of the family for any nation is the proportion of
children who reach early adulthood in an intact family, and by this
measure the Netherlands continues to deteriorate. Not only is an
intact family foundational for a child's individual happiness and
well-being but also for the social and economic health of the
nation's next generation. When parents reject each other in divorce
or separation, it dismantles social infrastructure.[6] A steady increase in
the percentage of children in the Netherlands living in
single-parent families (see
Chart 1) was followed by a marked increase in this percentage
during the 1990s, when the Dutch population debated and introduced
registered partnerships and same-sex marriage. The proportion of
the population that is married (see
Chart 2) has been steadily decreasing while the proportion of
the population that is divorced (see
Chart 3) has been steadily rising. In addition, there have been
noteworthy increases in

The number of
induced abortions (increases of 31 percent among teenagers, 40
percent among 20- to 24-year-olds, and 36 percent among 25- to
29-year-olds; see
Chart 5); and

The number of
couples across all educational levels who choose to remain
childless (see
Chart 6).

The campaign for
same-sex marriage has also detracted from the significance of
marriage by effectively equating other types of relationships with
marriage. The Netherlands' creation of "registered partnerships" in
1998-in many ways similar to Vermont's civil unions or California's
domestic partnerships-touched off a string of significant social
changes. A registered partnership, available to heterosexual and
homosexual couples alike, is a contractual agreement between two
people that provides many of the same benefits as marriage.
Following the legalization of same-sex "marriages" in 2001, most
same-sex registered partners chose to change their relationship
status to "married." Simultaneously, the Netherlands witnessed a
sizable increase in marriage dissolution among heterosexual
couples.

As a result of the
Act of Opening Marriage to Same-Sex Couples (2001), a simple legal
procedure now allows couples to transform a registered partnership
into a marriage, or, vice versa, to change the status of their
marriage to a registered partnership. This led further to the
phenomenon of "flash annulments" or "lightning divorces"
(flitsscheidingen). In a flash annulment, a couple mutually
decides to downgrade their marriage to a registered partnership,
which is then quickly followed by the termination of their
registered partnership. This effectively circumvents the divorce
procedure, which is, by definition, more lengthy and complex.
Commentary on flash annulments describes the procedure as an
unintended consequence of the legislation.[7]

The number of
heterosexual couples who availed themselves of this unforeseen
measure was substantial. In 2002-the first full year of its
availability-about four thousand married couples terminated their
relationships this way.[8]
The fact that married couples used this as "an escape route" from
marriage explains why the majority of registered partnerships (see
Chart 7) are between heterosexual couples and why the number of
partnerships increased from about four thousand in 1998 to more
than eight thousand in 2002.[9]
As a result of these legal and social changes marriage is now
barely distinguishable in law from registered cohabitation,
marriage dissolution through divorce and flash annulments has risen
to an historic high (see
Chart 8), and the institution of marriage has been further
dismantled.

These developments
in the Netherlands are undoubtedly part of a larger trend that has
been emerging in Europe for years. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany,
France, Luxembourg, Hungary, and Iceland have all granted some form
of legal recognition to same-sex couples. The Nordic
countries continue to pursue policies that erode the intact married
family, and much of the continent appears to be following suit
toward dismantling traditional marriage. Across the Atlantic, the
United States has been struggling towards different goals in the
last decade, in the form of the Clinton and Bush administrations'
family policies, which include

An increase in
funding for programs promoting sexual abstinence among teens and
success in reducing teenage sexual activity;[10]

A drive to
stabilize marriage built around a newly forged consensus that
married parents remain the ideal for raising children;[12] and

A renewed
commitment to include faith-based services in the country's social
welfare strategy.

In contrast with
Europe in general and the Netherlands in particular, the United
States is engaged in robust debate about the erosion of the family
because of a widespread consensus that the absence of marriage is a
threat to children and thus a threat to the future of the nation.[13] The outcome of the
national debate on same-sex marriage will either contribute to or
detract from the national consensus on the need to strengthen
marriage. Congress should play its part by rejecting the
Netherlands policy template for the family and the proposition on
the part of some advocates that same-sex marriage will strengthen
the family in America. It clearly has not in the Netherlands.

Patrick
Fagan is William H. G. FitzGerald Research Fellow in Family
and Cultural Issues, and Grace Smith is a research assistant in
domestic policy, at The Heritage Foundation.

[7]Masha Antokolskaia and Katharina
Boele-Woelki, "Dutch Family Law in the 21st Century:
Trend-Setting and Straggling Behind at the Same Time," Netherlands
Comparative Law Association at http://www.ejcl.org/64/art64-5.html
(June 28, 2004) [See sections 1.2 and 2.2] and D. Manting and J.A.
Loeve, "Economic circumstances and union dissolution of couples in
the 1990s in the Netherlands," Statistics Netherlands, March 16,
2004, p. 4.

[11]See National Center for Health
Statistics at
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/03facts/pregbirths.htm and
http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/up_pregrate95.htm#4.

[12]Isabel Sawhill, "Is Lack of Marriage the
Real Problem?," TheAmerican Prospect, April 8, 2002,
at http://www.brookings.org/views/articles/sawhill/20020408.htm
(September 27, 2004); Robert Rector, Patrick Fagan, and Kirk
Johnson, "Marriage: Still the Safest Place for Women and Children,"
Heritage Backgrounder No. 1732, March 9, 2004, at
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Family/bg1732.cfm; and Institute
for American Values, "Why Marriage Matters: Twenty-One Conclusions
from the Social Sciences," February 14, 2002, at
http://www.americanvalues.org/html/r-wmm.html (September 27,
2004).

[13]For example, see Institute for American
Values, "Why Marriage Matters: Twenty-One Conclusions from the
Social Sciences," February 14, 2002, at
http://www.americanvalues.org/html/r-wmm.html (September 27,
2004).